Gov's Panel Recommends Taxing Web Sales

A gubernatorial panel on Thursday recommended changes in state law that eventually could mean Arizonans paying sales taxes on everything they buy on the World Wide Web.

The U.S. Supreme Court ruled two decades ago that states can impose their sales tax on online sales only when a firm also has a physical presence there. So Apple.com has to collect Arizona's tax because Apple has stores here. By contrast, Dell, without Arizona stores, does not add on the levy. Michael Hunter, an adviser to Gov. Jan Brewer, noted there are several bills working their way through Congress to specifically allow states to tax internet sales.

"Every version we've ever seen, and the version we understand to be out there now, that may or may not be up for consideration in a lame-duck session requires a pretty high degree of simplification of the tax code," Hunter said.

The proposal advanced Thursday would do that. Hunter said committee members concluded that the tax code for both online and brick-and-mortar retailers is more complex than it needs to be.

"If you look at other states and you look at business people who actually have sales tax obligations in other states, it's really simple," he said. "You can do it on one form. In Arizona it takes reams of forms if you're in multiple jurisdictions."

Brewer, who formed the panel, said she wants to study the report before deciding whether to support any of the recommended changes.

PHOENIX (AP) _ Arizona is moving toward making online merchantscollect sales tax on residents' purchases, a departure from thestate's previous hands-office stance. The state Revenue Department has billed Amazon.com for $53million in uncollected sales taxes for nearly five years. Amazon says it's contesting the state's assessment, which thecompany disclosed in its latest annual report. At the Legislature, Arizona lawmakers have introduced a bill torequire Amazon.com and other retailers with distribution centers in